“When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.”
– Tom Hodgkinson
When I was a kid I read an article claiming that Thomas Edison never slept a full eight hours. Instead he’d take a series of strategic naps throughout the day. I couldn’t believe that any human could do that.
It’s one in the morning and I’m writing this post. When I finish, I’ll sleep four hours and take a couple half hour naps throughout the day. Usually I’ll set some benchmarks for myself. Once I hit them I celebrate by napping.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve functioned best during the dead of night. When I was five or so, I used to claim I was nocturnal. If it were up to me, I’d wake up at night at night and go to bed sometime around noon.
Unfortunately I don’t have that luxury. To compromise, I take strategic naps.
On days I work I like to get six hours of uninterrupted sleep. During lunch I’ll take a half hour nap. When I get home I’ll take another. Surprisingly, it gives me a lot of extra energy. In the Polyphasic sleep community this is called the Everyman.
On Wednesdays and Saturdays, I like to sleep four hours and take three or four half hour naps throughout the day. This is just a slight variation of the Everyman.
When Sunday rolls around, I usually don’t do anything. At most, I’ll knock out a few Fiverr gigs and go jogging. Otherwise I basically spend the whole day sleeping and reading.
Since I started napping, I’ve discovered that I no longer need to rely on caffeine to keep me active. Every time I get up, I feel fully recharged and ready to take on the world. If you get a chance, I recommend that you experiment around with taking power naps.
If you want to learn more about Polyphasic sleep and it’s benefits, I recommend checking out this article on the evolution of sleep.